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Washington Capitals Sign Martin Fehérváry To Three-Year Extension

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The Washington Capitals have announced they have re-signed RFA defenseman Martin Fehérváry to a three-year, $2.675MM AAV contract.

This contract’s term means that Fehérváry will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights when this deal expires, and he’ll be one year away from UFA eligibility at that point. One of Washington’s most promising young defenseman, Fehérváry has been a top-four blueliner for the Capitals in each of his first two NHL campaigns.

Set to turn 24 in October, Fehérváry played in 67 games this past season and averaged 20 minutes of ice time per night, including a minute and a half on the penalty kill. He’s a well-respected defense-first defenseman who has brought size and stability to the Capitals’ blueline. As a left-shot defenseman with more of a defensive bent, Fehérváry fits very well next to Washington’s best blueliner: John Carlson.

Washington is undoubtedly optimistic about what Fehérváry’s future holds, and it’s possible that they considered signing him to a long-term extension rather than this bridge contract.

But with the Capitals looking to maximize their competitive chances in the final years of Alex Ovechkin’s legendary career, opting for a bridge deal to keep Fehérváry’s cap hit relatively low for the next few seasons allows them to allocate more dollars elsewhere.

Should Fehérváry continue to grow and become a top-pairing all-around defenseman, this bridge deal will ultimately put the Capitals in a position to pay Fehérváry a major contract in just three year’s time, rather than in eight years had they elected a maximum-term long-term extension.

By making that choice they’ve saved valuable cap dollars for the next three seasons, and now they’ll hope on this contract Fehérváry can be part of a Capitals Stanley Cup-winning team.

Washington Capitals Re-Sign Riley Sutter

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The Washington Capitals have re-signed forward prospect Riley Sutter to a one-year, two-way contract carrying a $775k AAV and a $90k AHL salary.

Sutter was a restricted free agent without any arbitration rights, meaning the overwhelming likelihood was always that he’d be back with the organization that drafted him 93rd overall in 2018, and now today’s announcement confirms it.

The versatile 23-year-old forward is coming off a fourth consecutive season playing with the AHL’s Hershey Bears, and this one was his most productive yet. He set a career-high with 12 points in 69 games, and he even had a big moment in the playoffs scoring the overtime winner in Game Three of the Calder Cup Finals. That goal secured a crucial win that helped turn the tide of the series and eventually lead to a Calder Cup Championship for Hershey.

Sutter is a six-foot-four, 204-pound winger who plays a hard-nosed physical game and serves as a bottom-six defensive forward for Hershey head coach Todd Nelson. Seeing as the offensive production he managed in the WHL has almost completely evaporated at the pro level, it’s not easy to imagine Sutter as a contender for an NHL call-up anytime soon.

But with his extension, he’ll get another year in Hershey and another season to develop his game and potentially make a push for an even greater role in the Bears’ lineup.

Buffalo Sabres Re-Sign Kale Clague

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The Buffalo Sabres have re-signed defenseman Kale Clague to a one-year, two-way contract with a $775k AAV and a $475k total guarantee, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

This re-signing keeps Clague, 25, in Buffalo for a second season after he first signed there in July 2022. Clague spent most of the year as the Sabres’ seventh defenseman, ultimately playing in 33 NHL games averaging just over 15 minutes of ice time per night.

A former WHL Defenseman of the Year and AHL All-Star, Clague is no longer the top prospect he once was but he’s settled into an established role on the NHL/AHL bubble. Clague has already proven himself to be a capable AHL defenseman, and should he end up a regular for the Sabres’ AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, he’ll make a difference there.

It’s less likely that Clague finds his way onto the NHL roster next season as much as he did in 2022-23, thanks to Buffalo’s signings of Erik Johnson and Connor Clifton to bolster their blueline.

But should the Sabres run into injury issues, this re-signing gives head coach Don Granato a player he’s familiar with as one of the team’s top call-up options, as well as an experienced pro to enhance the level of competition at training camp.

While Clague might be better suited signing with a team that doesn’t boast left-shot defensemen (or defensemen set to play on the left side) such as Mattias Samuelsson, Owen Power, and Johnson already entrenched in their lineup, he’s put work in to be as versatile as possible and has played on his off-hand.

There are worse roles to play for an NHL organization than top AHL defenseman and first or second-choice AHL call-up, and that’s exactly what the Sabres are paying Clague a hefty AHL guarantee to do.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Anaheim Ducks Sign Robert Hägg

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The Anaheim Ducks have signed former Detroit Red Wings depth defenseman Robert Hägg to a one-year contract, per a team announcement. According to CapFriendly, the deal is a one-way league-minimum contract.

Hägg, 28, spent last season as a depth defenseman for the Detroit Red Wings, skating in 38 games and averaging 15:31 time-on-ice per night.

The former Philadelphia Flyers has never been much of an offensive defenseman (he has just 63 points in 338 career NHL games) but he’s been valued by clubs for his physicality and ability to lay down big hits on the opposition.

The Ducks have a glut of young, relatively unproven left-shot defensemen set to compete for lineup spots in the fall, with top prospects Olen Zellweger, Pavel Minytukov, and Jackson LaCombe in the running to win a job in new head coach Greg Cronin’s defense.

This addition of Hägg is less about adding a blueliner who’ll play meaningful NHL minutes and more about bringing in some experienced competition for those younger players. Should none of them manage to beat out Hägg for a regular role on the Ducks’ back-end, Hägg can log time on the Ducks’ defense and not look out of place, even occasionally wowing fans with a big hit.

But this signing was likely made with the hope that Hägg will end up taking a back seat to one of the Ducks’ prospects, and the team will now have to wait and see if their young defensemen are up to the task.

Also, even if one or two of the Ducks’ prospect defensemen takes a regular job, Hägg will still have the opportunity to compete with 26-year-old Colton White for the team’s seventh-defenseman role, the role he occupied in Detroit last season.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Dallas Stars Re-Sign Nicholas Caamano, Scott Reedy

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The Dallas Stars have announced contract extensions for two depth forwards: right winger Nicholas Caamano and center Scott Reedy. Each contract is a one-year, two-way pact.

Caamano, set to turn 25 before the start of next season, is a big six-foot-three forward who has shown flashes of offensive potential in the AHL but generally lacked consistency since turning pro from the OHL. The former OHL champion has scored 75 points in 191 career AHL games, while also racking up 194 career penalty minutes.

Caamano’s combination of physicality and bursts of scoring ability helped the AHL’s Texas Stars reach the postseason in 2022-23 and also turned Caamano into a viable option to be called up to Dallas, although he has just three points in 36 career NHL games.

With 227 combined games played at both the NHL and AHL levels, Caamano is set to cross the 260-game threshold this season which would mean he would no longer qualify as a “development player,” per the AHL’s rules.

As a result, this year is of particular importance for Caamano as he’ll need to show he can provide consistent value to his team in order for an NHL club to deem him worth investing a non-development player slot in during future seasons.

Reedy, 24, is a center who was acquired by the Stars from the San Jose Sharks in a midseason trade. He scored 10 points in 18 games for Texas and has 58 points in 111 career AHL games. Reedy is a big center who hasn’t scored a ton at the AHL level but does have a season on record where he scored 18 goals in just 38 games, showcasing some untapped offensive upside.

He and Caamano will in all likelihood be placed in top-nine roles for Texas but should be under consideration for NHL call-ups during the season, assuming they manage to be reasonably productive.

San Jose Sharks Sign Nathan Todd

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The San Jose Sharks have signed center Nathan Todd to a two-year, two-way contract. The deal carries a $775k cap hit in the NHL, a $225k yearly AHL salary, and $225k in yearly guarantees.

With Springfield Thunderbirds teammate Brady Lyle headed to the Washington Capitals, Todd is the second member of the Thunderbirds’ 2021-22 Calder Cup Finals squad to sign with another club today.

Todd is a 27-year-old center who has taken a bit of a winding road to this current point in his career, where he’s an established, valuable AHLer. Todd was a productive two-year OHLer before splitting his first full season away from junior hockey in the ECHL and Canadian University circuit. He then spent three seasons with the ECHL’s now-defunct Brampton Beast, going from middle-of-the-lineup player to point-per-game scorer.

Todd earned his first full-time AHL opportunity in 2020-21 with the Manitoba Moose, and he made the most of it scoring 12 goals and 32 points in 36 games in the AHL’s All-Canadian division. He even managed to be named to his division’s All-Star Team and parlayed that successful AHL campaign into his first NHL contract, with the St. Louis Blues.

The 2021-22 regular season didn’t go quite as well for Todd as the 2020-21 did, but he stepped up in the playoffs scoring 11 points in 18 games as Springfield nearly took home an AHL title. This past season Todd only managed to get into 16 games but he scored a healthy eight goals and 14 points, leading to this two-year deal with the Sharks.

San Jose recently dealt bottom-sixer Steven Lorentz to the Florida Panthers in the Anthony Duclair trade, meaning the possibility is there for Todd to have a stellar training camp and win the Sharks’ fourth-line center role. But the overwhelming likelihood is Todd begins the season with the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, and hopes to be healthy and productive enough to earn the first NHL call-up of his career.

Calgary Flames Sign Brady Lyle

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The Calgary Flames have signed defenseman Brady Lyle to a one-year, two-way contract carrying a $775k AAV and a $140k AHL salary.

Lyle is a 24-year-old right-shot defenseman who offers above-average size and is coming off of a breakout season with the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL.

A high-scoring undrafted defenseman in the OHL, Lyle began his pro career with the Providence Bruins but eventually made his way to Springfield. He was a member of the Springfield team that made it all the way to the Calder Cup Finals last season, acquired by St. Louis for future considerations in a midseason trade.

Lyle held down a top-four role for the Thunderbirds and ranked second among team defensemen in scoring with 31 points in 51 games.

The Flames have a crowded defense at the current moment but are a bit thin on the right side of their defense in the AHL with only veteran Nick DeSimone as the only right-shot blueliner currently penciled into the Wranglers’ lineup.

Now they’ve added another top-four AHL blueliner with some offensive upside to their mix, and seeing as he only just turned 24 perhaps the Flames believe Lyle can make a push for an NHL call-up.

Washington Capitals Sign Alex Limoges

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The Washington Capitals have put in work signing players to add to their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, for their next season where they’ll look to defend their Calder Cup Championship. Alongside an extension for Dylan McIlrath and the additions of Matthew Phillips and Pierrick Dube comes a signing of Alex Limoges from the Winnipeg Jets’ affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.

Per PuckPedia, the deal is a one-year, two-way contract carrying a $775k AAV and a $235k AHL salary. Seeing as Hershey already has their first-line center locked in with Michael Sgarbossa, Limoges figures to slot in either as the team’s second or third-line center, depending on the fate of 2020 first-rounder Hendrix Lapierre.

Limoges, 25, hasn’t yet played in the NHL but has been an extremely strong AHL scorer ever since he turned pro out of Penn State. The Virginia native scored 20 goals and 54 points for the Moose this past season, leading the team in scoring.

He only managed one goal and no assists in five playoff games and did not earn any NHL games or a qualifying offer, but his play was improved compared to last season and he firmly established himself as a top-six player in the AHL.

Now he’ll bring his services closer to home and play for the defending Calder Cup champion, with the hope of finally earning a call-up to make his NHL debut.

Detroit Red Wings Place Filip Zadina On Waivers

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The Detroit Red Wings have placed forward Filip Zadina on waivers, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Zadina, the sixth-overall pick at the 2018 draft, has two years remaining on his $1.825MM AAV contract. A lethal scorer at the junior level with the Halifax Mooseheads, Zadina turned pro immediately after the draft and spent his rookie professional season in the AHL.

He scored at a solid clip with Grand Rapids, potting 16 goals and 35 points in 59 games, a very respectable total for a teenage AHL rookie. He also scored three points in nine NHL for the Red Wings that year, flashing his offensive talent and showcasing why the consensus among scouts was that he would end up a star forward.

Zadina’s 2019-20 season was not a resounding leap forward but a solid step nonetheless, though as the pandemic wreaked havoc on pro hockey around the world Zadina’s development path was affected.

He never found a rhythm in his first season of full-time NHL duty and finished with 19 points in 49 games.

2021-22 was a continuation of Zadina’s struggles from the year before, and in his first full-length season in the NHL he managed only 10 goals and 24 points. Then this past season Zadina only played in 30 NHL games and scored just seven points.

Set to turn 24 next November, it’s been clear for some time that a change of scenery would likely be necessary for Zadina to reach his potential at the NHL level.

With Jonatan Berggren a more effective winger at the NHL level and the Red Wings signing Daniel Sprong in free agency, Zadina simply ran out of chances on Detroit’s roster.

Drafted by a previous regime led by current Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland, Zadina’s draft status was only going to get him so far, and now he’ll either be claimed by another NHL franchise or likely begin the season in the AHL hoping to earn a call-up if other wingers ahead of him on the pecking order struggle or get injured.

While his $1.825MM cap hit isn’t a massive number, in a flat-cap environment where so many teams are counting every last dollar available to them Zadina’s contract likely reduces the number of teams willing to acquire him by a decent degree.

Now all 31 other clubs will get a chance to add Zadina, and it remains to be seen if any team is confident enough in their development staff and what remains of Zadina’s former top prospect luster to take a chance on the final two years of his contract.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Philadelphia Flyers Sign Marc Staal

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The Philadelphia Flyers are signing veteran defenseman Marc Staal to a one-year, $1.1MM contract, the team announced.

The signing reunites Staal, 36, with his former coach John Tortorella, who coached Staal during the entirety of Tortorella’s tenure coaching the New York Rangers. Now, he’ll join a rebuilding Flyers club to likely be one of Tortorella’s most trusted veteran leaders.

Flyers GM Daniel Briere told the media, including The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor, that his team would “like to add a little bit more of a veteran presence ” while also keeping spots open for some of the organization’s younger players to make their mark. (subscription link)

Staal joins a left side of Philadelphia’s defense that already includes Travis Sanheim and Cam York, two players likely to play major roles for the club moving forward.

As a result, Staal is likely to compete for third-pairing minutes with fellow veteran Nick Seeler, as well as younger names such as Yegor Zamula, Emil Andrae, and Adam Ginning.

Now well past his prime years, Staal clearly isn’t the player he once was. The longtime Ranger was a steady presence in New York’s top four for over a decade, and he even made it to an All-Star Game earlier in his career. Now the most valuable things Staal brings to the table are his 1,101 games of experience and the guidance he can offer to the Flyers’ younger players.

Staal has extensive playoff experience as well, most recently in the Florida Panthers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final. He played in all 82 games for Florida last year and averaged over 18 minutes of ice time per night, with over two-and-a-half minutes per night spent killing penalties.

Staal’s role as a defensive specialist on the Eastern Conference Champions has earned him a nice pay raise from the $750k he earned last season. Now he’ll shift from playing in high-leverage defensive moments for a Stanley Cup contender to more of a mentorship role with a rebuilding club, where his off-ice contributions will be just as important as what he brings on the ice.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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